We’ve just paused to examine, to marvel over, the coming of the Christ child—the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Christmas is, therefore, perhaps an even better time than ever to think on Christ coming again to wrap up all involved in that majestic purpose the Lord declared “finished” from the cross at Calvary.

God’s Word–Jesus, Himself—gave many signals of the wrap-up of matters involving the reclamation of this fallen planet. All of those signals were, most end-times seminary scholars seem to believe, issued to point to the Second Coming. The signs Jesus gave, we are told by many in this category, don’t include the mystery later revealed to and by the apostle Paul. I refer to the first phase of the Second Coming. Paul divulged that “mystery” in the following, of course.

“Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-5).

I disagree with my friends who believe Jesus never alluded to the Rapture while He was on earth in the flesh, preparing to sacrifice Himself for the sins of fallen mankind. I believe that He did so while speaking to His closest disciples who asked Him questions after He said He would be going away (speaking of His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension). The Lord said:

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).

Jesus was talking here about His return to receive believers into His presence–above the earth (in the clouds); he wasn’t speaking of meeting them on the earth’s surface. Christ’s words here involve the “mystery” that Paul referenced in 1 Corinthians 15. Jesus will call all believers to Himself in the air (Revelation 4:1).

Like in the case of His words to His disciples and to us down through the centuries, Jesus’ prophecy concerning the wrap-up of this earth age was meant for all believers, not just for the Jews, I’m convinced. The seminarians mostly believe that Matthew chapters 24 and 25 (the Olivet Discourse) were given only for Israel. The signs given in the Olivet Discourse, they proclaim, therefore don’t include mention of the Rapture of the church of this present age.

We have looked many times in these commentaries how and why I (and may I add significant Bible prophecy teachers) find Christ’s reference to that stunning event in the Olivet Discourse—for example, in Matthew 24:36-42 and again in Luke 17:26-30. We believe these words of our Lord speak explicitly about a time like the “days of Lot” and how He will intervene catastrophically just as He did in that evil time.

Jesus said people will be buying, selling, marrying, planting, and building just as usual. He will intervene into that wicked, evil time, and judgment will fall that very day. But first, just as Lot was taken out of Sodom, so believers must, in that future day of evil and wickedness, be removed is the clear implication.

How near the Rapture? How soon might we hear this call to all believers?

We’ve explored weekly all of the things going on in this world of corruption. We’ve especially dealt with the great deception and deceivers the Lord Jesus warned of. We’ve examined in detail every signal, from deception and deceivers to the precise characteristics of end-times man given by Paul in 2 Timothy chapter 3. They are all front and center in every news cycle as we live our daily lives. We are, as was Lot in Sodom, sorely vexed!

We face such wickedness not just monthly and yearly, but during every minute of every hour during the news cycles that bring ubiquitous evil-doings before us. Therefore, our question about the nearness of the Rapture is a good one.

The days of Lot seem to surround us. When such ungodly, unholy vileness reaches a level that God no longer can abide it, He acts. His next action in dealing with the corruption defiling mankind is scheduled as the last seven years of human history before the Second Advent—the Tribulation.

First, remember, His people—all born again of this Age of Grace (Church Age)—must be removed.

Has the present earth system corrupted itself to the point that the Lord must once again—and finally—begin deconstructing through the most horrendous judgment in history, this incorrigible world of rebellion? In reading the following, I believe we can get a sense of the Lord’s holy mind through words He gave David millennia ago. I see them as comfort in these times.

“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.

For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.

But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.

The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.

The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.

Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.

A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.

For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous.

The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.

They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.

The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.

For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off” (Psalms 37:7-22).

 

According to a report, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put out the warning December 16. As many as 60,000 victims of the pandemic per month could die in the U.S. Apparently the dire prediction is supposed to have its genesis beginning this December.

I have no idea of the reliability of the information, but according to extensive reporting from Europe, a rapidly spreading disease related to COVID has governments in a panic. The United Kingdom, in particular, is in chaos over what to do about the new variant.

Omicron, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci and others, is raging across the globe and is swiftly making its way to America. Whether the health forecasters link this particular disease to the predicted 60,000 deaths per month, I guess it’s too early to know. They just make the prediction without detail at this point. But, to my sense of the story’s trending, they want us to think this new strain will somehow combine with delta and other new strains to kill Americans in ever-increasing numbers.

South Africa reported recently that the fast-growing outbreak of the omicron coronavirus variant, first identified in the country, has so far proved much milder than those before it. So how they can say it will kill so many is a legitimate question. Of course, to my observation, there have been many legitimate questions offered that haven’t been answered by the medical elite who put out the warnings and statistics.

For example, why do they insist on mask-wearing when it has been proven in numerous studies that the masks fail miserably to stop the spread? Yet the masking of small children in particular has been proven harmful in a number of ways to the little ones’ health. Another question: Why is it now being shown, beyond any doubt, that those vaccinated are more prone to be infected than those not vaccinated?

The omicron virus is creating havoc in many European states. Yet despite the panic–as I understand at present—not a single death has been attributed officially to this disease. Some experts I’ve read or heard say omicron reacts more like the common flu, and most recover quickly after having relatively noncrucial symptoms affecting breathing, etc.

Yet the panic has set in, and the lockdowns have begun. Boris Johnson, prime minister of Britain, has locked the country down, and it has cost a political upheaval that hasn’t been seen in the UK for 200 years, I’m told.

Raheme Kassam, a spokesman that appears on Stephen K. Bannon’s War Room, said that because of the lockdown, Johnson’s Tory party–hardcore conservative—was defeated December 16 in a special election. The party has remained undefeated, Kassam said, through world wars, depressions, and industrial revolution for 200 years. Now the people–made up primarily of factory and blue-collar workers—have rejected that party’s embrace of global manipulation.

And the UK is just the tip of the rebellion that has much of Europe in chaos, politically speaking.

While Boris Johnson says he doesn’t intend to lock down anything, he locks everything down with the suggestion that if people will just take the vaccines and boosters without pushing back, they can go back to the pubs and do all other of the activities that make for normal life.

The common man is apparently fed up, and the seas and waves of humanity are beginning to roar, yet the governmental controllers continue to wield draconian power that is driving the chaos, as the following article excerpt reports.

Globally, more than 75 countries have reported confirmed cases of the new variant. In Britain, where omicron cases are doubling every two to three days, omicron was expected to soon replace delta as the dominant strain in the country. The government has accelerated its booster program in response. Authorities in the 27-nation European Union say omicron will be the dominant variant in the bloc by mid-January…

People in the Netherlands, meanwhile, have been in a partial lockdown since November to curb a delta-driven surge. While infection numbers are now declining, the government this week ordered elementary schools to close for Christmas a week early amid fears of a new rise. Authorities also sped up a booster campaign as caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte cited Britain as an example of how swiftly the variant can spread…

“Let’s try to maintain the European solution,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said. “If every country goes it alone again, we’ll be even further from home.”

But ahead of the meeting, European nations were already acting to rein in the spread. Greece and Italy tightened entry requirements for travelers earlier this week, and Portugal decided to keep stricter border controls in place beyond their planned January 9 end.

France said Thursday that it will slap restrictions on travelers arriving from the UK — which is no longer part of the EU — putting limits on reasons for traveling and requiring 48 hours of isolation upon arrival. The new measures will take effect early Saturday.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex said the measures were being imposed “in the face of the extremely rapid spread of the omicron variant in the UK” (“Soaring infections in Britain driven in part by the omicron variant of the coronavirus rattled Europe on Thursday, prompting new restrictions on the Continent and fueling a familiar dread on both sides of the Atlantic about entering a new phase of the pandemic just in time for the holidays.” London AP, December 17, 2021)

The title for this article has a much more sinister meaning than merely biological. Preparation for the coming Antichrist regime is an infinitely more virulent disease of spiritual nature. Its chief damage to all upon the planet is the fear and chaos it wreaks. Its ultimate result will bring about soul-destroying enslavement by a pseudo savior who will foist upon the world greater deception than even that which the current world health tyrants have brought humanity to at this late hour in history.

But there is about to appear a True Savior. His name is above every other. Jesus Christ will, with a shout and trumpet sound, call all believers to Himself. It will be an instantaneous cure for all disease and sin that ravage this fallen planet.

If you want to be part of that call, here again is how to receive God’s saving grace.

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9–10).